OT: Well Pump

BTW: We have a shallow well pump, just a single supply line with a checkvalve in it and the pump resides in the crawlspace. None of them fancy in well pumps.

Good luck, Gene

I have found that when I need plumbing or electrical parts or supplies, it is best to avoid the stores such as Lowe's, Menards, etc. I have a local contractor that will make as good a deal on that stuff as the box stores do, it will be name brand stuff that is good because that is what he installs and his reputation is on the line, plus I can ask questions and recieve answers from a guy who knows what he is talking about. What is even better, the price I pay is only slightly more than at those chain stores.

Our water heater is also 34 years old, an old 50gallon. About every 5 years the bottom element goes because the sediment gets so high, covers the bottom element and it can't dissapate it's heat to the water fast enough and burns out. So I have to go in there with a modified vacuum hose and get all the sediment out.

We do have a sediment filter, but it is in the crawlspace and doesnt get changed as often as it should. Dad has installed magnets on the lines because he read it changes their structure so they dont bind up. Now instead of the filter showing red, it shows black sediment, weird.

Ideally I would like to get a softenor and run a dedicated line to the sink for drinking nonsoftened water. However I have supersensitive skin and fear the salt would bother me. I fear the day our water heater goes. Hopefully never, but nothing last forever. When we do I'll be the on installing it. It's going to be hard deciding on one because even the best glass lined wh's probably have 1/2 the glass (actually porcelin) coating as the cheapest old ones and is probably why ours has lasted so long. I am going to installed a water pan under it so when it does fail, and it will, it wont damage the floor, probably just drain it into the crawlspace, or tap into the endcap of the drainpipe. but then I'll need a trap to prevent gases fron coming up. I suppose I'll burn that bridge when I get there. Dad has thankfully installed home made water alarms in key locations. In the future I would like to hook them up to either a solenoid actuated inline water vavle from the main line to shut off the water in the event of a failure. This is pobably not the best option because of the heavy sediment building up and possibly not allowing the valve to shut off. A better option might be a pump disconnect eletrically. It may cause the pump to loose prime, but that is more easily fixed then a new floor =P.

Alot of plans it seems, hopefully I will get around to implementing some of them before I get to old and full of arthritis. =(

• RedJacket

The new synthetic "leathers" will last and outperform the originals by many times. Numerous sites out on the web devoted to hand and shallow well systems.

Start browsing the internet. Think you will be surprised.